Musings from Douglas J. McLeod, the author of the "Gary Celdom Case Journals" series, and his pen names: C.D. Melley, romance and poetry writer, and Crimson Nuage, author of the "Fiery Freedom" series.

Friday, 14 June 2013

The Division Report: June 14, 2013

My apologies for missing last week. I had to make an emergency trip 70 miles away from home last Friday to tend to family matters. It's been a rough week in the aftermath, but that's not to say I have forgotten about my writing duties. Here's what I've been up to during the past week-and-a-half...

Reading in Fun-damental: During my time away, I was able to finish reading Sean McIndoe's The Best of Down Goes Brown. I found it a hilarious romp involving the National Hockey League. McIndoe takes real life events within the league, and amongst some of its players, and puts his own comedic spin on it. If you, or someone you know is a sports fan, and has a love for "the fastest game on ice," I highly recommend it. Rating: 5/5
Since then, I have started reading Twisted by my good friend, Christa Simpson. This is my next reading foray into the romance genre, and it's an interesting read so far. At the present, I'm about 14% through the book, and am interested in seeing where the story leads.

Everyday I'm Editing: The latest round of re-edits on Barbadian Backlash are coming slow, but sure. When I originally penned the book, it clocked in at 51,100 words spanning 26 chapters. At the present, 3,000 words have been chopped and it sits as a 21-chapter tome. I've only gone through nine of the original chapters so far, so I still have a ways to go before I send it out to the betas. I'm hoping through these rewrites, I'll turn it into a stronger story.

The Write Stuff: While one would think I wouldn't have been able to write much with everything going on, I did pen two flash fiction stories in the past eleven days. The first was a submission for a Halloween-themed short story contest. The challenge was the story had to be no more than 300 words, and those who know me (*waving to my Hired Editor who has been eluding my search party*) know having to try to condense my prose is not an easy task. However, I was able to meet the parameters, and enter my submission. I will find out in a couple of weeks if my entry is one of the ones selected. If it is, "A Spectre's Soliloquy" will appear on printed napkins in selected coffee houses this October. Should it not make the cut, I will share it with you, my loyal readers. I'm just not sure if I should post it as soon as I find out, or wait until closer to All Hallow's Eve.

My other piece of flash fiction is one I posted right here yesterday. With the July edition of Camp NaNoWriMo starting in two-and-a-half weeks, I decided to knock off a little "write rust" and whipped up a little 550-word story entitled "Chance Meeting in Cowtown." It's about two Calgary residents who come together by fate, and plant the seed for an eventual relationship. Who knows? If my proposed romance novel project this July is successful, I might parlay "Chance Meeting" into my pen name persona's second book.

That's all for now from my writing desk. I want to give a shout out to all of my new followers on Facebook and Twitter. My apologies to the Twitter followers if I send out non-writing tweets. It's a combination personal-professional account. Speaking of which, if you're on either (or both) social media platforms, my Facebook Author page can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/DouglasJMcleodAuthor and I can be found on Twitter @Dief_Highlander. Until next week, happy writing!